Athens (the Bellingham of Ohio) up to the Chocolate City

I rode into Athens Ohio thinking it would be a quick overnight and I would be off again the next day.  Nope!  This town deserves a little more time to really appreciate what it has to offer. I arrived planning on staying with a friend’s sister, Suzi, who recently graduated from Ohio University here.  When I got there she was out of town so I made a beeline for the local brewery.  The owner saw me outside with all my gear and told me I could roll it all inside if I wanted to.  Within seconds, a family sitting near my bike offered me a seat and bought me a beer.  Really nice family, I sat with them for a while before they had to leave.  Suzi arrived shortly after and we had a couple beers there and at a great bar down the road called Casa.  Not a bad start!

Local Brewery

The next day the weather was beautiful so I spent my time walking around town checking out campus and a few of the local bakeries and coffee shops.  I was struck by the fact that there was sooo many young people.  Everywhere you look it was just college kids.  Its like they had taken over a small town.  I kept thinking I would stumble upon a prison camp where they housed everyone over 35 and under 19.  (Maybe I just didn't look hard enough).  A cool town though!  I ended up meeting a lot of new people, some friends of Suzi, others just people I talked to in bars.  It was fun, very much like Bellingham WA.  

Local Bakery

We went on a beautiful hike to Old Man's cave.  A winding trail through a little valley, everyone once in a while you would come upon an old stone bridge over the creek, or stone stairs that wind up into a fissure in the rock face.  A beautiful area, especially with the fall colors on the trees and underfoot.

The next two days were really bad weather.  Cold cold temperatures and raining hard all day.  So I hung around.  Met some more people, took care of some business online.  Hit the bars in the evenings (if you bought me a drink, thanks!) stayed up late and slept in a lot.  A nice little break from my hectic summer schedule:) 

Finally got a day of no rain so reluctantly, I head out to Parkersburg West Virginia.  Stayed with Kim there, who is big in the Mountain biking scene and a bicycle lobbyist.  Only one night though, I had to make up for lost time.  I rode the rail-to-trail between Parkersburg and Clarksburg but it was in pretty bad condition.  The scenery was beautiful and the grades nice and easy, but there were huge mud puddles, pot holes hidden by fallen leaves, giant branches and logs all over the path.  After getting a flat, I gave up on it and rode the hiway the rest of the way.  In Clarksburg I stayed with David.  One of the original couch surfers, this guy had some really interesting stories!  I had a great time in Clarksburg, but again just one night.  Up to Morgantown the next day.

Spooky Tunnel

Morgantown seemed like a cool little town, but again, only one night for me.  My plan was to ride from Morgantown about 85 miles to Cumberland the first day, then 85ish miles from Cumberland to Mercersburg PA, then 80 miles from Mercersburg to Hershey.  It seemed reasonable enough; I've been spinning those kinds of days all summer, so no problem right?  Well unfortunately I did not have a topographical map with me, because these Appalachian 'mountains' are steep!  Real steep!  I put mountains in quotes because I don't believe they can qualify if they are only going up to 3000 ft or so, but let me tell you, riding over them is just as hard (and much less rewarding) than riding over the Rockies, or Cascades out west.  We're talking 13% grades at times, just up and down, up and down, so at the end of the day you've climbed as much as you would in the Rockies, but you're still down near sea level.  Talk about fatiguing!  That combined with an afternoon of rain made my first day out of Morgantown pretty miserable.  I ended up camping in a little park about 30 miles short of Cumberland.  Cold, tired and discouraged.  Then Turkeys invaded my campsite.  The turkeys were a nice change of pace.  

Campsite with Turkeys

But the next day was beautiful!  I decided I would try to make up for lost time and still make it to Mercersburg--  It was mostly downhill out of my campsite to Cumberland and then I was on the C&O trail that connects Pittsburg and DC for about 60 miles.  The trail was really nice at first and absolutely gorgeous.  Just following the Potomac most of the way, and a nice gentle downhill grade, so I was turning about 16 mph the whole time.  But the last 10 miles was really muddy and it became quite frustrating.  Then I got another flat.  Finally got off the trail and started to head north right around sunset.  Still about 20 miles to go.  Back into the hills, and I wasn't really sure where I was going so it was slow progress.  But with some help from some nice people I met at a bar (I was just getting water, Aaron...don't you judge me!) I made it to my warmshowers host in Mercersburg around 9:00 pm.  Really nice people, and they lived in a beautiful old house from built in the 1830s.  Apparently it even had its own resident ghost, but I didn't see it.  

 

Haunted house, Ghost from the civil war

The next day I rode into Hershey along hi way 11.  Now that I was out of the Appalachian hills, it was really easy.  Just an nice ride through PA, which has, by the way, very clean wide shoulders on most of its roads.  Everything was going great until I got to Harrisburg-  Two flat tires within five minutes of each other.  The first caused by some jagged, unseen gouges in the pavement, the second by a big old chunk of glass.  Seriously, what are the odds; I made it nearly 2000 miles before my first flat tire, now I am getting them every other day (or twice in one day).  I guess my tires are just wearing thin.  I did make it into Hershey, which does smell like chocolate.  I'm taking a few days off here, hanging out with my friend Jess and thinking about the rest of the ride.  I am getting near to the end now.  I estimate just three more days of riding to get to New York City.  Three!  One to get to Philadelphia, where I will visit some family, then two to make it into the big city.  Am I ready for this?  Is it really going to be over??

Heading into Harrisburg, land of the flat tires

The answer is yes, I want to get there.   I want it bad.  I want to go there.  I don't want this trip to be over, but I want to get to NYC.  It’s going to feel good.